Mapping The Tour de France Riders From Space

Roland Piquepaille writes "It was just a matter of time before someone gets the idea of using satellite localization to map the positions of the cyclists of the Tour de France. In a first test on July 21 during the ascension to l'Alpe d'Huez, ten riders were equipped with receivers and tracked by the EGNOS European satellite positioning system, a preparatory programme for the Galileo system. The European Space Agency (ESA) reports about this first test in "The best view of the Tour is from space." It's highly possible that all riders can get receivers as soon as next year. And this data will be available on the Web, so you will know in real time the exact location of your favorite champion. Read this summary for more details and a computer-generated image showing the respective positions of Lance Armstrong and Richard Virenque, the top-ranked climber, while climbing to the top of l'Alpe d'Huez."

Comments

Drugs and Bikes

[mfh]

This story would be a whole lot better if it included a biorhythm readout of the steroid or drug content of each rider! I was listening to the CBC radio in the car again today and they had a very insightful discussion about the Belgian Christophe Brandt who withdrew after testing positive for the narcotic methadone. It seems that the Tour is being marred by this drug controversy.

However the tracking system they are planning for next year seems quite a bit better than what is currently available, like this fairly unintuitive flash gizmo on CBC.

Re:Drugs and Bikes

[dago]

yes, and the famous "pot belge", which was widely used amongst clyclist, contains antalgics, cafein, cocain, amphetamins and ... heroin.

Re:Drugs and Bikes

[selderrr]

there we go again... Brandt was tested positive on Methadon, a substance that DOES NOT HELP cycling better. It's some sort of pain killer.

Additionally, the dose was miniscule. So small that it is impossible to have any advantage or even effect whatshowever. It is very likely that he's the victim of eating something which contained some Methadon without his knowledge. (did you know for instance that tap water in many cities contains high traces of Oestrogen ? Does that make you a transexual ?)

Those athletes work and live on the edge where NONE OF US HERE has ever been and will ever be. Cycling, especially the Tour de France is the most intense and demanding sport on earth. Those guys burn up to 12.000calories in one day (insert lame joke here) andthey have no choice but to nurse their bodies at perfection. That includes vitamins and food supplements that are on the edge of what's allowed. But ON THE EDGE is not equal to OVER THE EDGE. Each of these guys goes as far as his doctor tells him. The slightest mistake tests them positive.

Don't be one of those bystanders booing 'cycling is all about dope !'. The sport is insane, the competition is insane, the food is insane too. There are surely some dopeheads, as in every sport. But armstrong for instance, gets tested EVERY DAY. Also at home, at unexpected times. Outside racing season.

irst come to live in a racing country (I'm from Belgium) and experience cycling first handed. There's probably less than 1% of the /. population that would make it up alpe d'huez... even with all the dope they wanted.

Wins Again

[jfinke]

On another note, Lance won again. It was actually a pretty riveting end to the Tour de France.

APRS

[j1m 5n0w]

This would be a good use of APRS (automatic position reporting system). The basic idea is that you plug a gps into a handheld HAM radio, and the radio transmits your position at periodic intervals.

-jim

little slow on the button?

[RestiffBard]

Hey, slashdot, how about moving a little quicker on the submissions now and then. This info would have been nifty about 3 days ago. Seeing as I just watched Lance roll through Paris I suppose we're now just early for next year.

weight

[mattr]

I wonder how heavy those things are, and how much it will cost them timewise in the aggregate. Imagine nearly killing yourself on small things that add up to a win or lose at the end, but always know you have this dead weight. Or are the cyclists happy about it because it is better for the fans? Do they weigh everyone's gps units to make sure they are the same? I can see people shaving off the edges of the silicon..

Re:weight

[Fenris Ulf]

Since riders are already adding weight to their bikes to meet the minimum weight rules, perhaps they'll just integrate one of these with each of the team bikes.

Re:extra weight?

[perly-king-69]

On that (Alpe D'Huez) stage Armstrongs bike was 2grams less than the permitted UCI minimum weight of 6kg. Not a large amount, but they actually had to add weight to his bike.

Re:extra weight?

[Corf]

which they did by substituting the titanium bolts on some of his equipment with stainless steel instead. How's that for gram-counting? It's amazing the difference people think one or two extra grams saved will make on their riding.

On the flipside, every bit of rotating weight you shave off the wheels counts far more than relatively stationary weight on the frame or componentry. Those wheels Armstrong rode up Alpe d'Huez with were around 1000g for the set; compare with the Ksyrium Equipes on my road bike at 1670g. Truly use-once-and-throw-away event-specific stuff... anyone over 200lbs gets on those, they fold up like pringles.

I'd be more impressed

[infolib]

If they started using the helicopter cams for the sprints. They're always filming the sprints from ground-based cameras in front of the riders with ridiculous amounts of zoom. You have no chance to see who's in the lead or who's coming up fast or falling behind. Instead you have to rely on the commentator stuttering the name of whatever rider's in the lead. Hey, it's not radio, it's TV - I want to see it.

They've got the chopper hanging around all afternoon anyway, so what's the big deal?

Re:Lance pisses off French

[Anonymous Coward]

This American only has a problem with French people that were spitting on Lance Armstrong.

Is it worse than a Belgian being assaulted by one French people, being punched in the kindney, having a double fracture and tremendous pain in his back, and finishing only second of the tour de France, despite falling several time due to pain? I'm talking about the attempt of a 6th victory of Eddy Merckx.